Lesson 1
Warm up:
What do you know about British and American cars?
Do you know the difference between gasoline and petrol? Are they the same substances? Brainstorm your ideas with your neighbour.
Exercise 1
Now read these texts and check your assumptions. Answer the question after the text.
George Bernard Shaw once said that Britain and America are two countries separated by a common language. Nowhere is that gulf more apparent than in the difference between the car and the automobile.
There's a lot more to the difference between US and UK cars than simply filling them with gas or petrol. Even the unit of measurement, the gallon, is different. A US Gallon is only 0.833 imperial gallons even though they share the same name.
American cars have always had a reputation for being bigger and brasher, while UK cars are known for being quieter and more fuel efficient, on the whole. Drivers in the UK are far less lightly taxed on fuel than their counterparts in the US. The current price for fuel in the US , is about $0.92 per litre (£0.60) compared to about £1.40 per litre in the UK. This is because drivers in the US pay just 6% in tax for their fuel, while UK drivers pay about 40% -- a massive difference.
Despite cheaper fuel, there are signs are that the US market is changing. More fuel efficient vehicles are becoming increasingly popular, with the Mini and Fiat 500 seen increasingly on US roads. Hybrid vehicles, such as the Prius are also a much more common sight.
But things are changing. Recently, there appears to be a growing trend towards buying smaller and more fuel efficient vehicles. The Mini is hugely popular as is the tiny Fiat 500, and Prius’s are an increasingly common feature on the American highway. Moreover, vehicles that might be considered large in the UK, say a 3-Series BMW or an E-Class Mercedes, are increasingly popular in the land of the Cadillac.
But although the UK and US markets might be becoming more similar, the cars themselves remain as different a London black cab and a New York Yellow cab.
How many differences between British and American English can you find from reading this text?
Exercise 2.
a) Look at this picture for two minutes and try to memorize as many words as possible.
a) Follow the link and
complete the task.
Exercise 3
We know American-English speakers call the parts of
their cars different names from their British-English counterparts, but why ? Read the text and find the
answer to this question. Do the
assignments after the text.
Nowadays we’re very used
to Britain and America interchanging ideas, TV programmes, products, work and
much more – but at the birth of the automobile over a century ago things were
much different.
Since Americans decided
the ‘u’ in words like colour, flavour and harbour served no purpose and
wouldn’t be missed; and that -er made more sense than -re in centre, theatre
etc; and that æ should be ‘e’ not ‘ae’ in the likes of anaemia, they’ve moulded
their language their own way.
Early dictionaries
attempted to bring together the spellings of English words but by this time, in
the 18th Century, the American English speakers had developed styles, accents,
colloquialisms and dictionaries of their very own.
Fast-forward a century
and a half to the birth of the horseless carriage and American English was
firmly a language in its own right, so when designers either side of The Pond
(and beyond) were naming parts of their cars according to what purpose they
served, or what they looked like, they were setting off from a separate
starting grid.
BONNETvs.HOOD
It’s no surprise the part
of the car covering the delicate mechanicals from the elements is named after
headwear – and the split between the US version (hood) and the British one
(bonnet) shows more similarity in thought than it does difference in name.
The British ‘bonnet’ of
course comes from the dainty headwear – preferred by women – in the early days
of automotive design. Choosing a mainly feminine article fits with the European
notion that all objects have a gender, indeed the French ‘La voiture’ shows why
British car lovers often refer to their beloved motors as ‘she’ and ‘her’.
Over in the States the
same idea was adopted, but a smaller influence from European gender-assignment
to objects meant a much more neutral term was chosen. ‘Hood’ fit the bill –
enveloping the engine and ancillaries nicely and more in keeping with a ‘hood’
on an outfit, rather than merely a cap or similar.
TYREvs.TIRE
For British motorists,
the rubber wheel-covering is called a tyre – for the Americans it’s a tire. But
why?
For other parts of the
car we’ve seen the words are completely different – but for this one it’s
simply a matter of spelling.
Although there are many
theories, the word tyre or tire appears to come from the word attire, in the
sense that the wheel had been dressed in something to protect it. From the
early days of rubber pods embedded into a wooden wagon wheel, this
wheel-dressing has helped grip, and reduced the shock going through both the
wheel and the vehicle’s occupants when it struck something on the road.
In the same way American
English did away with the u in harbour and colour, it also kept things nice and
simple in this instance, and so the ‘i’ sound in tire simply became that letter
– whereas the British, with a language steeped in history and tradition,
seemingly wanted to keep the ‘y’ in the same way ‘attyre’ may have been written
by the likes of Geoffrey Chaucer and his counterparts in old English verse. In
modern Britain, you’d be hard pressed to find someone giving a good reason why
it’s remained ‘tyre’ rather than ‘tire’ – except “that’s how it’s always been”.
BOOT vs.TRUNK
The part of the car used
to hold items you won’t need access to without stopping the vehicle is called
the boot in the UK, and the trunk in the US. These words may be different, but
their meaning is incredibly similar when taken back to their origins.
In Britain during the
time before cars and subsequently on early car designs a coachman, charged with
driving the vehicle – whether that be the horse pulling a carriage or perhaps
an automobile, would need to take some items with him (for it would inevitably
be a man in those days), and would generally sit or stand on a locker
containing his boots – much-needed sturdy footwear to change into for the
inevitable repairs to the carriage or automobile whilst on appalling early
roads built mainly for hooves rather that wheels. Keeping these boots and other
things in the receptacle mean it was named the boot locker – and, in time,
simply the boot. As time went on and coachmen were not needed, the boot was
still very handy and a crucial part of a desirable carriage design.
1) How are " Tyre ", "Bonnet" and
"Boot " are called in your
language? Write 5
sentences using these words.
2)Work in groups. Explain how underlined words were created. The first
student should act as a foreigner who wants to understand the meanings of these words.(Tyre, Tire, Hood, Bonnet, Boot,
Trunk). The second student should give explanations as the British. The third
student should speak for the Americans.
Exercise 4
a) Read the following dialogues and act them out.
AT THE
GAS STATION
Attendant: What can I
do for you?
David : Fill it up, please.
Attendant: I guess
your car takes unleaded gas.
David: That's correct. How much gas did
it take?
Attendant: Eight
gallons.
David :Would you check the oil,
please.
Attendant:It's below
the full mark.
David :Please fill it up. Will you wash
the windshield for me?
Attendant: Okay.
Should I check the tires too?
David: Please ,do. How much do I owe you?
Attendant:11 dollars
even.
David: Here you are.
Attendant: Thank you.
BUYING A
CAR
Customer: Good morning.
Dealer: Good morning , sir. May I help
you?
Customer: I want
to buy a new car.
Dealer: Do
you have anything special in mind?
Customer: It
shouldn't be either an expensive car or a big one.
Dealer: I
see. What about a Honda? It's a good and rather inexpensive car. One of these
cars
Customer: How
much is it?
Dealer:6900
dollars.
Customer: I've
got a large family. There-fore I'm looking for a mid-sized car.
Dealer: If
you are interested in a family car, the new Oldsmobile Delta 88 would be a good buy.
Customer: May I
see it?
Dealer: It's
right this way. It's a very popular model. Let's take a look.
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